Don’t miss tonight’s Livable Streets forum for the massive scrum of candidates running to replace Tom LaBonge in LA’s 4th council district.
You can register for the free event here, and bike the vote by riding in with Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward.
And yes, there will be a bike valet.
Meanwhile, the Jewish Journal profiles the seven most prominent candidates in the race, three of whom call for better bike lanes in the district.
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In a highly uninformed editorial, the OC Register says bike paths and other active transportation — no ironic quotes needed, thank you — plans receive a disproportionate amount of transportation funding.
Which is absolutely true, as the LACBC’s Eric Bruins points out, since walking and biking account for 19% of trips, 39% of traffic fatalities and just 1% of funding in LA County.
In other words, the very definition of disproportionate. But maybe not the way the Register intended.
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Local cyclist and costume designer Erica Schwartz wants your help with a new line of fashionable and functional clothing for women who ride bikes.
Taking just a few minutes to fill out this anonymous survey will help her develop fashions that will meet your needs.
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Throw me something, mister!
For those of us who know what it means to miss New Orleans, Metro is hosting a Mardi Gras celebration at Union Station on February 17th.
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Turns out even 81-year old country music outlaw Willie Nelson is one of us.
So is Russell Crowe, though we knew that already. Note to Daily Mail — that is so not a BMX bike.
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Local
The LA Weekly looks at LA’s underground bike racing scene, which isn’t really all that underground anymore.
LA’s newest bike corral is taking its lumps protecting bikes and pedestrians from careless Larchmont drivers.
The Loyola Marymount news site lists five of LA’s best bike routes. Although some of those seem a little too familiar; maybe someone should explain the need for attribution to them.
If you loved the South LA CicLAvia, don’t miss the Love Ride on Valentines Day.
State
Cyclelicious offers a look at transportation bills introduced in the California legislature; nothing exciting on the bike front yet. Which could give the governor’s veto pen a rest this year.
Costa Mesa considers the safety of biking and walking in the city. Thanks to sponsor Michael Rubinstein for the heads-up.
The EPA will help Fresno plan a bike share program to help improve air quality.
The East Bay Bike Club’s Robert Prinz explains how to carry a little or a lot of stuff on your bike.
Sounds like they think he did it on purpose. A Ukiah teenager faces five counts of assault with a deadly weapon for mowing down a series bike riders in rapid succession; he also faces one count of DUI.
National
Bicycling offers advice on how to bike with your dog, and how to buy an un-abused used bike.
I’ve never been a fan of PC language, as you may have noticed. But People for Bikes makes the case that changing terms helped end the divisive Seattle bikelash.
Now that’s more like it. A bill before the Nebraska legislature would make injuring or killing a cyclist through careless driving a felony with up to five years in jail. Although someone should have a long talk with the editor who approved that awful illustration.
Louisville KY’s extremely cool new underground bike park built in an abandoned limestone mine prepares to open next month.
Unbelievable. A Shreveport driver received over 40 moving violations in 20 years — including a DUI — yet somehow was still allowed on the road to kill a seven-year old girl in an allegedly drunken collision.
Baltimore gets a new bike plan calling for 253 miles of bikeways.
International
The president of cycling’s governing body admits dropping the ball on paracycling, but pinkie-swear promises to make it right.
London approves plans for segregated bike superhighways crisscrossing the city, as well as additional bike infrastructure improvements. Even as a member of the city’s transportation board says it’s your own damn fault if you get killed.
Just seven days after receiving the heart of a fallen cyclist, a British transplant patient suddenly takes up bicycling. And rides a 30-mile sportive in his donor’s honor 19 weeks later.
My favorite Scottish bike blogger turned leading bike advocate says if you want to sell bikes to women, maybe you should actually listen to them.
The womens pro cycling tour is showing the Arab world what women can do if given a chance; I hope they’re watching in Saudi Arabia, where women are prohibited from riding a bike in public.
Finally…
If you’re trying to auction stolen bikes online, don’t take photos with your unique wallpaper visible in the background. When you’re an unregistered sex offender carrying drug paraphernalia and meth on your bike, put a damn light on it, already. Or better yet, don’t.
And Bike Radar offers 30 reasons to take up bicycling. Although boosting your bowels is not one most people would usually recommend to prospective riders.
The other “Love Ride” on Valentines Day is the Tour de Palm Springs–one of my favorites.
I had an interesting experience in Long Beach Tonight. I was riding on this over-hyped green sharrows and encountered what seemed like an oil slick that covered only the green paint over a significant length of the street. This was inbetween Granada and Argonee. The oil caused a front wheel skid as I braked for a red light, sending me to the ground. It was a good thing I didn’t have an angry LB driver tailgating me as so often the case on that street. A passerby told me that he had seen a motorcycle crash in the same spot while braking for the light.
Perhaps this little more than the result of an oil leak, but in a city as hostile to cyclists and pedestrians as long beach – I am inclined to think it might have been sabotage.
The worst part of my ordeal wasn’t riding home 18 miles from LB to Fountain Valley with what may be a broken hand. It was being laughed at by the LBPD operator.